Cagers to face inconsistent Illini

When Illinois and Penn State met for the first time this season, Nittany Lion freshman walk-on Tim McGovern was forced into a prominent role at point guard, Lion forward Rahsaan Carlton injured his right foot less than a minute into the game and the Lions eventually lost, 85-70.

At 7:30 p.m. today, Penn State (9-15, 2-13 Big Ten) welcomes Illinois (18-8, 8-6) to the Bryce Jordan Center for a rematch. For the Lions, little has changed since that Feb. 25 loss.

Things are still going wrong, and they are still losing.

Following a devastating loss to Wisconsin on Wednesday, Penn State traveled to East Lansing, Mich., Saturday to play Michigan State. The Spartans dominated the Lions in every facet of the game on the way to a 71-57 win. For Penn State, it was its second consecutive loss and 13th in its last 15 outings.

"We have three games left," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said. "The loss to Wisconsin was disappointing and certainly had a negative effect on us, but we have to move past that. We didn't move past that in the Michigan State game, and it affected us."

Illinois has been up and down this season. The Illini reached the top of the mountain Jan. 14, when they beat first-place Minnesota, now the No. 2 team in the nation.

Illinois, though, has lost two of its last three games. The most recent was Saturday's heartbreaking, 67-66, loss to the Golden Gophers.

"I thought the guys did a nice job," Illinois coach Lon Kruger said following the loss. "You hate to have the results not be quite what you want, but the guys worked hard. They fought like crazy."

Illinois guard Kiwane Garris continues to lead the team, as he has done all season. Garris averages 18.4 points per game and is the second-leading scorer in the Big Ten behind Iowa's Andre Woolridge. Against Minnesota, he had 23 points.

In the first meeting with the Lions, Garris scored 22 points, and guard Matt Heldman had 21, well above his 9.2 average.

Pete Lisicky led Penn State with 18 points in the first game against Illinois. Forward Phil Williams chipped in a season-high 14, along with nine rebounds.

Although the losses continue to pile up, Dunn said he would not look toward next year when filling out the lineup card.

"I don't believe in playing somebody because they're younger or they're the future," he said. "Guys have to earn playing time."

But time is running short to earn that playing time. After tonight, Penn State will welcome Ohio State to the center before traveling to Iowa on March 5 for the season finale.